For help or enquiries: Registration Department, 184 Kennington Park Road, London, SE11 4BU +44 (0)300 500 4472 international@hcpc-uk.org These guidance notes will help you to complete the European Mutual Recognition application form and understand the application process. After reading them, if there is anything you do not understand please contact us. Before you apply Before completing the application form, please ensure that you: are eligible to apply for registration based upon European Mutual Recognition; and have read our standards of proficiency for your profession and standards of conduct, performance and ethics (which can be found on our website at www.hcpc-uk.org). Eligibility To be eligible to apply for registration based on European Mutual Recognition under the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) you must be: a citizen of a Relevant European State (or an exempt person); and fully qualified to practise your profession in a Relevant European State other than the United Kingdom. A Relevant European State is: a Member State of the European Union; a European Economic Area (EEA) State; or Switzerland. Completing the form This form can be completed electronically using a computer. Once you have fully completed all sections, you will need to print the form, sign Section 7 with a handwritten signature then post to us. Please ensure that you: answer all the questions as fully as possible (if you run out of space please continue on a separate piece of paper) and attach a current passport-style photograph to the first page of the application form. This form can also be printed and completed by hand. If you decide to do this, please ensure that you: complete the form in black ink and block capitals; mark boxes with a cross; You will be required to submit certified copies of documents with your application form. Documents should be certified by a lawyer or notary, judicial or consular officer or a person of standing in the community. The person certifying any document should endorse a copy with the statement I certify that this is a true copy of the original document seen by me and sign and date it. They should also include their name, profession and contact details. For any documents which are not in English you will also need to provide a certified copy of an official translation. Please do not send us original documents unless we ask for them. Your eligibility This section will allow us to establish that you are eligible for European Mutual Recognition. Name and name change If your application is made in a name which differs from that on your identity documents or qualifications, you will need to provide us with certified copies of the documents which explain that difference (eg a marriage certificate). Proof of your nationality Please provide a certified copy of your passport or national identity card. If you are seeking to exercise European Mutual Recognition rights as an exempt person you will also need to provide documentary proof of your relationship to a national of a Relevant European State and a copy of their passport or national identity card. Health and Care Professions Council 2017 EMRGUI11/17 Page 1
Exempt persons An application for registration under the Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001 based upon EU mutual recognition can only be made by a person who is an exempt person within the meaning of that Order. The Order defines an exempt person as: (a) a national of a relevant European State (an EEA/Swiss national) other than a UK national; (b) a UK national who is seeking access to, or is pursuing, a relevant profession by virtue of an enforceable EU right; or (c) a person who is not an EEA/Swiss national but who, by virtue of an enforceable EU right, is entitled to be treated, no less favourably than an EEA/Swiss national. A relevant European State means an EU Member State, a Member State of the European Economic Area or Switzerland. UK nationals If you are a UK national, you will only qualify as an exempt person if you can provide the HCPC with satisfactory evidence that you have an enforceable EU right. In order to do so, you must demonstrate that: you hold a qualification which entitles your application to be assessed under the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015; AND you are or were residing in a relevant European State (other than the UK) as a worker, self-employed person, student, selfsufficient person or based upon the three month right to reside under the Free Movement Directive (2004/38/EC), or have some other enforceable EU right. An applicant who is not an EEA/Swiss national, who is seeking to claim exempt person status based upon being the spouse, partner or a family member etc. of a UK national, must provide satisfactory evidence of that UK national s enforceable EU rights as set out above. Applicants who are not EEA/Swiss nationals If you are not an EEA/Swiss national, you will only qualify as an exempt person if: you are: - the spouse or civil partner of an EEA/Swiss national; - the direct descendant under the age of 21, dependent, or dependant relative in the ascending line of an EEA/Swiss national or of their spouse or partner; or - an extended family member of an EEA/Swiss national, as defined in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006; AND you are either: - accompanying or joining an EEA/Swiss national who is residing in the UK as a worker, self-employed person, student, self-sufficient person, or based upon the three month right to reside under the Free Movement Directive; or - a person who was within one of the categories above but, after the death of the relevant EEA/Swiss national or that person s departure from the UK following divorce, etc., you have retained your right to residence under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006; PLEASE NOTE: It is your responsibility to provide the HCPC with the documents which are needed to establish that you are an exempt person. This includes obtaining any relevant documents from the appropriate authorities in another relevant European State. Proof of your qualifications You need to be fully qualified to practise the relevant profession in another Relevant European State. Please provide a certified copy of your qualifications. If you qualified outside of the EEA or Switzerland but your qualifications have been recognised in a Relevant European State, you must provide certified copies of: your original qualifications; the document confirming that your qualifications have been recognised in that State; the certificate or other document provided by the regulatory body in that State confirming that you have practised your profession there for at least three years since your qualifications were recognised. Proof of professional establishment If you are established in a Relevant European State, the competent authority there should be able to provide you with a European Certificate of Current Professional Status. Please provide us with an original or a certified copy of that certificate. Proof of professional practice If your profession is not regulated in your home State, in addition to details of your qualifications, you must provide us with proof that Page 2
you have practised your profession in that State for at least one out of the last ten years. Typically, such a document will be issued by the competent authority in that State, but we will also accept evidence from an employer, if it is provided on the organisation s official letterhead and signed by a senior person within that organisation. Previous applications Please tell us if you have previously applied for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or the Health Professions Council (HPC), including making a declaration concerning the temporary provision of services, or with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM). You should provide us with: your application number; when you applied (an approximate date will suffice); the type of application you made; and the outcome of that application. Please provide this information on a separate sheet. SECTION 1 Your details It is important that the personal and contact information you provide us is kept up to date. For security reasons we are unable to accept changes by email. If your personal or contact information needs to be updated please contact us by telephone. We may ask you to confirm some changes in writing or to provide us with supporting evidence. Passport style photograph If attaching a printed colour photo, it must measure 45mm high by 35mm wide, which is the standard size used in photo booths in the UK. The image of you must include your head completely. If attaching a digital colour photo, it must be no smaller than 535 pixels high by 415 pixels wide. File formats supported are.tif,.jpg,.pdf,.png and.gif. Home address We will use your home address for all correspondence with you, so it is important that it is accurate and you inform us of any change. Your home address will not appear on the public version of our Register. Other contact details Please provide us with your email address and telephone number. We will use these to communicate with you in order to expedite the application process. min 29mm max 34mm 35mm or 415 pixels 45mm or 535 pixels Verifying your identity You must provide us with a certified copy of: your current passport or national identification card; and one of the following documents showing your full name and current address: - a household utility bill for electricity, gas, water or a fixed telephone line (the utility bill cannot be more than six months old; mobile telephone bills from outside of the UK are not acceptable); - a current full driving licence issued in the UK, another EEA State or Switzerland; - a bank, building society, credit card or mortgage statement which is no more than six months old (PDF/online statements are not acceptable); - a local government tax bill (eg council tax) valid for the current year; - an HM Revenue & Customs tax document, such as a tax assessment, statement of account or notice of coding which is no more than six months old (forms P45 and P60 are not acceptable). Page 3
SECTION 2 Professional qualifications In this section please provide us with details of your professional qualification. This is the degree, diploma, or other qualification which enables you to practise your profession in another Relevant European State. You must also provide a certified copy of your professional qualification and, where appropriate, a certified copy of an official English translation. You may also include details of any additional qualifications which you consider relevant to your application in this section. You do not need to provide details of your general (school) education unless it is directly relevant to your practise as a health and care professional. Course information form Your application should include a course information form which has been completed and certified by your university or training institution. This form is not in the application pack, but is available as a Microsoft Word template on the HCPC website (www.hcpc-uk.org/ apply/international/forms). The form can be downloaded and sent to your university or training institution as an email attachment. The course information form provides us with details of theoretical and practical content of the courses you have successfully undertaken. We will use it to determine whether your qualifications are comparable to our standards of proficiency. The information provided should include details of the course content, the number of theoretical and practical hours for each module or subject, and the assessment methods used. This information may be taken from a syllabus, but must only include parts of the course which you studied. The form must bear the stamp or seal of the university or training institution and include contact details for the course administrator or another appropriate member of staff who may be contacted as part of the verification process. SECTION 3 Professional experience Please use this section to tell us about your professional experience. You should provide as much detail as possible, to help us determine whether you meet the HCPC standards of proficiency. The information should be provided in chronological order, with your most recent experience first. Please explain any significant gaps (of six months or more) in your career history. You can use an additional sheet of paper if necessary. For each place where you worked, you must provide us with the name and contact details of your supervisor or manager. We will contact them to verify the information provided. Any address or email address you provide for a supervisor or manager must be a professional or business address. We do not accept private postal or email addresses. In addition to this information, we encourage you to provide references in support of your application. They should be written by someone who has been your supervisor, or otherwise responsible for you in a professional capacity. You must submit at least one completed Professional experience form. SECTION 4 Professional registration and memberships In this section you need to tell us about your registration by or membership with any regulatory body, professional association or similar organisation. You should provide this information in respect of the State in which you are currently established and any other country where you have worked or lived. Page 4
SECTION 5 Language proficiency All HCPC registrants must be able to communicate effectively in English in order to meet our standards of proficiency. If you are a citizen of a Relevant European State you do not need to provide proof of your English language proficiency unless you are applying for registration as a speech and language therapist. However, if you are admitted to the Register, you must be able to communicate in English at the level specified in the standards of proficiency. If you are applying to be registered as a speech and language therapist you must provide us with an appropriate English language proficiency test certificate unless English is your first language. You should only declare English as your first language if it is the main or only language that you use on a day-to-day basis. Having studied English or undertaken higher education that was taught in English is not sufficient to claim that English is your first language. We may ask for further evidence if you claim that English is your first language but you are not from a majority English-speaking country. We will only accept the following certificates of English language proficiency from speech and language therapist applicants. INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM (IELTS) 8.0 with no element below 7.5 TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TOEFL) Internet Based Test (IBT)** Minimum score of 118/120 We cannot accept any TOEFL test score undertaken in the United Kingdom. An IELTS or TOEFL certificate must be no more than two years old when we receive your application. SECTION 6 Paying your scrutiny fee Scrutiny fee The fee we ask you to send with your application is called a scrutiny fee. This is a one off non-refundable payment of 495. Once your application has started being processed, you will receive an email from internationalpayments@hcpc-uk.org with a link to WorldPay payment service. Please follow the link to make your payment; the link will remain active for 10 days. Expired links can be reissued by emailing international@hcpc-uk.org, however this will delay the application process as we cannot process your application without this payment. Registration cycle Your registration cycle is biennial (two-yearly) and is made up of two professional years. We will advise you of the registration fee when your application has been processed and approved. The table below shows the professional years for each profession we regulate. Arts therapists Biomedical scientists Chiropodists / podiatrists Clinical scientists Dietitians Hearing aid dispensers Occupational therapists Operating department practitioners Orthoptists Paramedics Physiotherapists Practitioner psychologists Prosthetists / orthotists Radiographers Social workers in England Speech and language therapists 1 June 31 May 1 December 30 November 1 August 31 July 1 October 30 September 1 July 30 June 1 August 31 July 1 November 31 October 1 December 30 November 1 September 31 August 1 September 31 August 1 May 30 April 1 June 31 May 1 October 30 September 1 March 28 February 1 December 30 November 1 October 30 September We will inform you in writing about how you can make your registration fee payment. This will happen at the end of the assessment process and only if you are accepted for registration. Page 5
SECTION 7 Declarations Declaration of information We will only process your application if you have signed this declaration. You should make sure that you fully understand the declaration before signing it. Character When we look at whether an applicant is of good character we take account of conduct in the past which indicates that the applicant may be dishonest, untrustworthy, capable of harming service users or to act in a manner which undermines public confidence in the profession in question. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 does not apply to an application for HCPC registration, so you must declare to us any convictions or police cautions that you have received, even if they are spent under that Act, other than a protected caution or protected conviction. A caution is protected from disclosure six years after it was accepted (or two years if the offender was under 18 when it was accepted). A conviction is protected from disclosure after 11 years (or five and a half years if the offender was under 18 when convicted). In either case a conviction will only be protected if the offender received a non-custodial sentence and has no other convictions. A caution or conviction will not be protected if it is for a listed offence under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. These include serious violent or sexual offences and offences of specific relevance to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. A caution or conviction for a listed offence must always be disclosed to us. Further guidance on listed offences may be found on the Disclosure and Barring Service website www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service. Health and disability You are asked to provide us with information about your health if it may affect your fitness to practise. We are not asking whether an applicant is healthy, as many health conditions can be managed appropriately so that the applicant is still able to practise their profession safely and effectively. We recognise that a disability may not be seen as a health condition but we also need information about any disability that may affect your fitness to practise. Having a disability should not be seen as a barrier to becoming a health and care professional. We have produced guidance called A disabled person s guide to becoming a health and care professional which you should refer to for more information before you answer the questions in this section. Vetting and barring Vetting and Barring schemes have been introduced across the UK to make sure that unsuitable individuals are not able to work with children or vulnerable adults. You must tell us if you have been barred from working with children or vulnerable adults under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 or the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. Background checks We will conduct background checks to verify the information provided in your application. These may be undertaken by the HCPC, its agents or their representatives. The information you provide may be disclosed to government agencies and other third parties such as employers, referees and professional bodies. The information may be used outside of the EEA if appropriate. Page 6
Processing of your application We will endeavour to: acknowledge your application within five days of receiving it; and if it is complete, assess your application and advise you of the initial decision within 60 working days from the date of acknowledgment. Incomplete applications All applications are checked when received to ensure that they are complete. If your application is incomplete, we will return it and ask you to complete and resubmit it. Please do not send missing documents or information separately from your application. If you do, they will be returned to you. Complete applications We will begin processing a complete application within five days of receiving it. We will use the information you provide for two broad purposes (the processes for which we will carry out at the same time): To assess whether your professional qualifications are comparable to the standards of proficiency required to practise the profession in the UK. If we identify any substantial gaps, we will take account of the additional education, training and professional experience set out in your application. The conclusions of our assessors will be set out in an assessment record and sent to you by post or email. To verify that the information provided in the application is accurate, eg by contacting universities, employers, professional bodies and referees named in the application. It is important that you provide correct and current contact details where requested to avoid delays in processing of your application. Application outcomes Further information request If we cannot reach a decision based on the information in your application, we may ask you to provide further information. If we do so, we will write to you explaining what information is required and the date by which you must provide it. We do this only in justified cases and it is in your interest to provide all relevant information when you first submit your application. Compensation measures If the assessment process identifies substantial differences between your education, training and experience and those required to meet the UK standards of proficiency, you will be asked to undertake a compensation measure. This will be set as an adaptation period but with the option, if you choose, of taking an aptitude test instead. The options will be explained in your assessment record. You will be able to appeal against these recommendations. Successful applications If we are satisfied that your education, training and experience meet the UK standards of proficiency and that you meet the other requirements for registration, we will contact you to complete the registration process by paying the registration fee. Once you are on the Register Registration If your application is successful, once you have paid your registration fee, we will: put your name on the Register and give you a registration number; and send you a registration letter. The public version of our Register (which is available on our website) shows, by profession: your name; your registration number; the duration of your current registration; your approximate geographical area of your practice (town, not full address); your registration status; and any annotations which apply to you (for example, prescribing rights). Page 7
Staying on the Register Once you have been registered, you will need to renew your registration every two years. To make sure your name stays on the Register, you must: pay your registration renewal fee; renew your registration online; and if asked to do so, submit your CPD audit information. We will send you more information about renewing your registration around three months before the end of the registration cycle for your profession. Please ensure that you advise us of any changes to your contact details. Page 8